Tuesday, October 19, 2010

- Oh Miss Ursula! If ever there was a sexy icon for the sixties it was this Swiss beauty!

Ursula ran away from home at the tender age of 17 with an un-named Italian actor. It was only the efforts of her parents that brought her back home. A real Euro Wild Child of the sixties! Like Sophia Loren she started her career in some low budget Italian farces.

This got her started in the movie business and it was through the efforts of another young actor who became her lover and happen to swing some weight in Hollywood at the time that helped her sign a contract with Columbia Pictures. His name was Marlon Brando.

She was beautiful and knew it. She married actor/director John Derek in 1957 and dropped out of the movie making biz for awhile. Some guys make it their life's work to pursue gorgeous super models. Rarely are guys like this built for the long haul of marriage.

Opinion: Derek (like ROGER VADIM) was one of those guys brought up with the view of women as an accessory. Something you acquired, like a fine diamond or a Rolls Royce. Then one morning you wake up and wonder who that person is lying in bed beside you. They divorced in 1966 and he claimed She Took All My Money! Then he went on to marry another beautiful actress Miss Linda Evans, then finally Miss Bo Derek.

These are the two GIF files in the BOX at bottom of this page.

Miss Ursula returned to the big screen in 1962 with stunning impact opposite good ole Sean Connery as "Honey Ryder" in the James Bond thriller "DR. NO"!

Miss Ursula on the beach in the James Bond thriller "DR. NO"Miss Ursula was the very first Big Screen 'Bond Girl' and became legend.

Who doesn't remember the sensual Honey Ryder? It was this role that made her into one of the most desired women in the world and began the cult of the "Bond Girls". Of which I am a charter member!

Here she is in one of her best rolls as Countess Kaeti von Klugermann opposite George Peppard in the "BLUE MAX" (1966). I thought she was at her sexiest in this role as the wife of old General Count von Klugermann (James Mason) and the jealous lover of the young daring Luftwaffe Pilot (George Peppard).

NOTE: It should be noted that the very first Bond Girl appeared in 1954 and her name was Miss Linda Christian appearing in the TV adaptation of Ian Fleming's famous novel, Casino Royale. Miss Ursula was the first one to appear on the Big Screen.

Click Pic to Enlarge Miss Linda Christian

Her character Valerie Mathis, was the merging of the two characters, Vesper Lynd and Rene Mathis, from the famous spy novel. Barry Nelson was also the very first actor to play Bond in the series, and Peter Lorre took on the role of Le Chiffre.

Christian was born in Mexico in 1923, and later moved to Los Angeles to chase her dreams of becoming an actress. There she eventually signed a contract with MGM and made her film debut alongside Danny Kaye in the 1944 musical comedy 'Up In Arms', and later appeared in the 1948 release 'Tarzan and the Mermaids'. Christian could speak seven different languages, and won several beauty contests before becoming an actress. She was famously nicknamed the 'anatomic bomb' in Hollywood because of her sexy curves.

Christian was perhaps best known for marrying Hollywood A-Lister Tyrone Power in 1949.
They had two daughters, Taryn and Romina, who are both actresses. The couple divorced in 1956 and she was later briefly married to British actor Edmund Purdom between the years of 1962 -1963.

A list of my favorite the James Bond Girls on the right, click their names to see their pix.

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